Is failing to plan, really planning to fail?

The end of 2010 brings with it a sense of renewal or a cold dose reality with the dismal prospects for the Bills and Sabres. I can’t think of a time in the recent past where I held such pessimistic feeling for both teams to perform any better, let alone get to the point of being relevant nationally.

For many the cure all for the Bills would be a franchise quarterback to build a contender around. A year ago I thought the “can’t miss” prospect was Washington’s Jake Locker. Locker could have come out after his junior season and thought it better to stay another year, only to suffer through horrible early season losses to BYU and Nebraska.

Our attention then turned to Andrew Luck of Stanford, who now is also thinking of sticking around for his senior year. Some of Luck’s decision rides on where his coach Jim Harbaugh decides to go (more on Harbaugh’s career choice later). I still like Locker, a durable type of quarterback who battled adversity and a limited supporting cast to finish the season strong and beat that same Nebraska team in a late December Holiday Bowl. Perhaps Locker is the quarterback the Bills need at this point, without the higher price tag of Luck.

Harbaugh will tonight take the stage as his refurbished Stanford Cardinal takes on Virginia Tech in the Orange Bowl (please note that the game’s corporate sponsor has been deleted and forgotten). It’s a foregone conclusion that Harbaugh will leave Stanford shortly after tonight’s game for either his alma mater or to coach in the NFL. Counting on a deal with Michigan may have made weeks ago, the Wolverine brethren feel that Harbaugh will return them to their entitlement of ten win seasons and national prominence.

It wasn’t that long ago many of these same fans tossed aside Lloyd Carr for a coaching phenom named Rich Rodriguez. If Michigan doesn’t get its wish, and Harbaugh goes elsewhere, there is no apparent plan B. Just remember, the reason that things don’t according to plan, is because there never was one. Now, where does that leave the Bills and Sabres?